Report by Paula Antolini, March 19, 2020, 11:10AM EDT
The Town of Bethel officials First Selectman Matthew Knickerbocker, Emergency Management Director Tom Galliford, and Bethel Superintendent of Schools Dr. Christine Carver gave updates related to stopping the spread of the Novel Coronavirus, information stated in a video recording on March 16, 2020.
Topics covered included the number of people with Coronavirus in Connecticut, which is 26 at this time, 16 in Fairfield County, according to the Tom Galliford update. (Update March 19, 2020: According to the Connecticut State website the number of people with Coronavirus is now 96 in CT. View figures below.)
A county-by-county breakdown of the total positive cases statewide includes:
- Fairfield County: 69
- Hartford County: 11
- Litchfield County: 5
- Middlesex County: 1
- New Haven County: 10
Tom Galliford said:
“We are going by the DPH and CDC guidelines as far as practicing social distancing.
“We are in contact with the Connecticut State Department of Emergency management as well, and having conference calls with them periodically on our preparation efforts.
“The Fire and EMS departments and the Bethel Police department have taken steps to minimize any exposure to persons that are ill and you can go to their websites and Facebook pages and we’ll update the information on some of their efforts as well on that.”
First Selectman Knickerbocker stated,
“One thing I’d like to stress to our folks at home is that all of us in Municipal Government around the state are working with state and government officials, watching the latest information literally on an around-the-clock basis including over the weekend.
“With that in mind, we’re watching data come from Europe, particularly from Italy and from Spain, and we’re looking at situations also in other states around our nation where some measures have been taken, sone aggressively, some not so much, but this is providing very valuable data on how we should prepare now to prevent the spread of this dangerous virus in our own community. And I want to stress that we have no cases in Bethel right now but we’re working very hard to keep it that way.
“With that in mind I’m going to announce that effective tomorrow morning, Tuesday the 17th of March, Town Hall will effectively be closed to the public. We are going to sharply restrict access to Town Hall offices with the exception of the tax collector’s office. If you’ve been to that office you know that there is already a glass barrier that protects staff as well as the public, and other offices will be open but on a by-appointment-only. This is very critically important.
“If you need to access town services we encourage you to use the online services. Call ahead to the department. Discuss your needs with the department staff, they will be there, they will be on duty, but we want to limit contact with the public as much as possible.
“For any appointments that must be scheduled, in other words, for things that cannot be done by fax, or by email, or by regular mail, we encourage you to make an appointment, discuss with the department head, and they will tell you when they can make time for you to come in, and minimize contact.
“And very, very importantly, if you are not feeling well, if you are experiencing any of the symptoms of either flu or Coronavirus, please do not come into this office. Please see your health care provider as quickly as possible.
Dr. Carver stated:
“You probably already know that the governor has closed schools until March 31st and at that point they will reevaluate where we are, with the idea, as First Selectman said, on social distancing, trying to keep people apart to avoid the spread of the virus. I know that’s incredibly hard for families that work two jobs or both parents work, but at this point we really do not have a choice.
“I do want to let you know too, and I’ve sent this in emails to parents, we are going to start our feeding program Wednesday [March 18, 2020]. It is not restricted to students who qualify for free and reduced lunch, so it’s open to any student enrolled in the Bethel Public Schools and all of their siblings. So even younger children are able to participate in that program, and that’s Monday to Friday from 10 to 12 at Berry School in the parking lot.
“I also want to let you know that we will be instituting our Distance Learning Program. We did get some revised guidance from the state with this evolving situation. They’re being much more flexible in terms of how we can provide continuity of services in education. I sent an email out today about that. We hope to have it up and running on Monday.
“And I know some of you have asked me, because your children did not bring their Chromebooks home, we are going to have a Chromebook deployment plan. We are likely going to be deploying them this Friday. So rerally follow the instructions in my letter carefully.
“If you need a Chromebook for your family to enable to implement the strict learning plan there’s a form linked in my letter.
First Selectman Knickerbocker added:
“We know that these measures are disruptive and inconvenient, however the data we are seeing from other states and other nations indicates that inconvenience now really can prevent catastrophic conditions in the future and we’re working very hard to prevent that from occurring.
“We will update this information as often as possible and by working together as a community we can pull each other through this.
“Please refer to the town website and the Bethel Public Schools website for further info.”
VIEW VIDEO HERE:
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